Mark Wahlberg Confirmed For ‘Transformers 4′; New Logo Revealed

Published 2 years ago
by
Andrew Dyce
, Updated November 9th, 2012 at 4:48 pm,

After weeks of rumors linking Mark Wahlberg to the planned sequel/reboot Transformers 4, and less than a day since director Michael Bay claimed those were just rumors – rumors that had gotten him thinking about casting the Oscar-nominated actor – it’s official. Mark Wahlberg will star in Transformers 4.

The plot of the movie is still largely unknown, but if Optimus Prime is going to appear, his mother should probably prepare to be said ‘hello’ to.

This isn’t the first time that Bay has made some big decisions with the franchise on the fly, after he previously claimed that Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon would be his last. It was a ride on a Universal Studios roller coaster that convinced him the fourth time would be the charm, so perhaps decisions like this sudden casting should’ve been expected.

The pair just worked together on Bay’s upcoming ‘smaller’ film Pain and Gain, alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The production must have gone particularly well between the actor and director, since the Internet fervor over Wahlberg’s possible involvement in the Hasbro franchise partially convinced Bay to make the offer.

Bay’s official comment on Wahlberg’s casting follows, promising ambitious things for the future of the brand:

“Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on ‘Pain and Gain’ and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his caliber is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the ‘Transformers’ legacy.”

Along with the casting announcement comes a reveal of the film’s logo treatment, though it’s still missing a subtitle. Whether or not Paramount will stick with the ’4′ or come up with a catchy rider remains to be seen. Check the logo out below:

CLICK FOR FULL IMAGE

Some may have hoped that a leading man being cast in the film would give some sense of the direction the writers might take with the story, but with Wahlberg, it’s not so easy to discern. Considering the actor’s most recent roles - The Fighter and Ted – it could go any number of ways. Given Michael Bay’s track record, it’s most likely that the film will land somewhere between action and comedy, in which case Wahlberg’s casting makes perfect sense.

It’s hard to believe that a Transformersmovie will trade laughs for tears, since that seems out of character for both the source material and director’s strengths. The darker sections of Transformers: Dark of the Moon were the source of its biggest problems for some people, so hopefully Bay and company have learned a few lessons.

Wahlberg marks just the first member of the apparently completely new cast of humans and robots, and all things considered, will go a long way toward giving T4 a notably different tone than those that preceded it. The film itself will have to deliver genuine quality, but at least this casting news will pique people’s curiosity. When we’re talking about the fourth installment of a hotly-debated series, that in itself is an accomplishment.

What’s your take on Wahlberg’s casting? Think he’s right for the franchise going forward? If he is, would you rather see a role closer to Ted or The Departed?

I have been seeing this comment appear so often since the production of the dark of the moon. IMO, having the film at cybertron is an exciting “animation film” but won’t be a good motion picture as it won’t be as jaw dropping since we human can’t relate to the destruction happening on screen. So, no cybertron for me. =)

I hope they will go forward to the future and introduce Roddimus Prime, and of course Unicron. They pretty much couldn’t do anything about the villain since they’ve already killed off Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave and the Fallen. But if they are reviving them like what they did to Megatron, then I’ll definitely not be watching this…

I will try to make it with 50X the boom then Transformers 3, and less talking and story then Transformers 2.

And for all you haters, Mark is a great guy, and a great actor too. For me, a great actor is someone who does not question authority like a certain fox (pun intended) I know. He does action, so I think this movie will be like the movie sometimes on Spike TV, I forget the name, but its a show where they show buildings being blown up, it will be like that, but for 2 hours and starring Marky Mark!

The guy partially blinded a Vietnamese man, and beat another while shouting racist abuse him. A “great man” is a bit of a stretch, even if he was a teen/young adult when he did it (considering the last time I checked he hadn’t even gone to see and apologise to the man he blinded because Marky Mark had forgiven himself, which is all that matters…)

Wahlberg’s a better actor than LaBeouf, but his studio fare is usually where he does his worst work (Max Payne, The Happening, Contraband, etc.). Almost nothing about this movie, short of Daniel Day-Lewis mocapping and voicing the new villain, would make me un-skeptical about the prospect of another Bayformers.

Daniel Day-Lewis’ robot would be an evil Abrahamesque Unicron disciple with a robot top-hat that transformed into an angry urinal. It would spout rhetoric through the whole movie, kill Optimus a couple of times, then get dispatched quickly at the end. For comedy relief the robot would drink milk through a straw and snort it out of its nose. In an effort to increase the boom, it would be lactose intolerant due to some chemical reaction between energon-crystal and milk, which would cause it to fart explosions.

The mid-credits scene would see the Daniel Day Abraham Bot lying down in a puddle of milk. Its hat would roll away, transform into the angry urinal, then flush out a urinal cake. The urinal cake would transform, revealing that it was controlling the Daniel Day-Bot.

Optimus Prime’s mother??? Who’s voicing that!? Sally Fields? While we have Daniel Day Lewis Abrahamesque robot with top hats and his Ulyesses-esque general robot sidekick. Fighting a Robert E Lee style villain from the southern Cybertron army.

It goes on for 3 hours of talking, and 5 minutes of Boom.

Is then considered Bay’s best film of all time. But Day Lewis takes the Oscar home. Then Bay writes an angry public letter about how ungrateful Day Lewis is. Since he launched his career.

Michael Bay really should take a break from directing for a few years to learn how to direct again… He lost any technique he might have had pre-Transformers.. Gone are the days of being lauded for the The Rock now he’s derided and rightly so for just not being that good anymore.

Guys, they’re never going to make a purely robot movie with no humans. They still have to appeal to the *general* audience, and they’re unlikely to show up in droves if they haven’t got humans to root for. Boring, I know, but you’ve gotta get used to it.

Mark Wahlberg?!?! This guy sucks! The build up to all his films is great, and you think ” wow this could be a cool movie” and every time I walk out out of the theater thinking ” why did I just see that?? I just wasted 2 hours of my life on that?!? The S.O.B. did it to me again!”! This one can wait until it becomes a rental, or better yet until it shows up on FX. Whatever happen to Jadon Statham being in this anyway?